More Batman Casting Revealed

I like directors who find acting partners that they re-use in move after movie. Some of my favorites have employed this practice --Alfred Hitchcock had several actors who showed up in multiple movies (James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant). Tim Burton has Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. And now, it seems, Christopher Nolan is repeating the pattern as well.

Over the weekend, it was announced that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will appear in the next Batman installment, The Dark Knight Rises. (Recall as well that Tom Hardy (Eames in Inception) has also been cast in Dark Knight Rises, as Bane.) Based on this post from Movie Line, Gordon-Levitt has signed on as Alberto Falcone. This doesn't mean much to non-comic book fans, but for those of us who are, it's pretty exciting. Falcone appeared in a late 90's storyline from Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale, called The Long Halloween. I really enjoyed that story arc, so I can only hope it will influence/inspire the coming movie.

I've followed Gordon-Levitt since his days on 3rd Rock from the Sun and think he is a promising actor. He was a surprising, interesting addition to Nolan's most recent work, Inception.

There's still over a year for the new Batman movie, but I have to say, I'm more excited about it than the upcoming Green Lantern movie. I hope to be pleasantly surprised by it, much like I was with Iron Man. We'll see...

Anyway, here's one more gratuitous photo of Gordon-Levitt, this time from Inception -- I loved the scene with walking on walls.

Batman Would be the Thing to Pull Me Back In

It's been awhile, I know. I'd like to say I haven't been around because of the holidays, and while that's true, it's not the whole story. In early November, I became one of "those" people, one of the 12 million who plays World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online role playing game (or MMORPG for those few of you who don't know already). I'd like to talk more about my experience as a newbie in the WoW universe, since it's about all I've done with my free time these last few months, but this post is really about the newsy bit that brought me BACK to the blog in over 8 weeks.

And that news is the announcement of the two stars added to Christopher Nolan's next Batman installation, The Dark Knight Rises (**snicker** at that title). If your Twitter stream isn't already full of this news, then let me share with you that, drum roll.....

--Anne Hathway will star at Catwoman

--Tom Hardy will star as Bane

You may recall Tom Hardy from Nolan's most recent film, Inception, in which he was awesome.

So let me get my most major complaint out of the way first: The inclusion of Catwoman in the movie in the first place. Now I love Catwoman. I collected Catwoman comic books, toys, and other ephemera for years. I've dressed up as Catwoman for Halloween (years ago, sigh). So trust me, I'm a big fan of Catwoman. But I feel like we've done the Catwoman story already in the Tim Burton movies. Michelle Pfeiffer was a great Catwoman. Remember this scene??

Then, we had that horrible Halle Barry movie, that we shall not speak of again. My point is that Catwoman isn't covering new ground in the Bat-verse. There are other female characters who could be interesting to include, my favorite being Harley Quinn. With Joker's demise in the 2nd movie, seems like an opportune time to bring in his just-as-crazy girlfriend for revenge.

Here's my other problem with Catwoman....Anne Hathaway. I feel bad about this, because I actually like Anne Hathaway, but visually, she seems too pretty, too nice, too clean to be a great Catwoman. I think she is cute & funny, and great on SNL and in romantic comedies. I hear she was great in that drama (Rachel Getting Married? Not totally sure...), but I'm not sure she can play the bitchy, gritty, wrong-side-of-the-tracks version of Catwoman that I grew to love.

Catwoman comes in so many versions, there certainly is room for variation from what I typically consider. And if anyone can do it, Nolan is that guy. So dude, impress me. I really want to be excited about this.

Whew. Catwoman went on longer than I expected. Let's turn to Bane.

The last movie to (briefly) feature Bane, Joel Schumacher's hot mess, Batman and Robin, barely got to Bane at all. He was sidelined as one of Poison Ivy's henchman. A total waste of an otherwise formerly decent villain. In the comics, the guy is a brute, a monster.

I'd like to see a well-developed Bane character in the next movie. He's not a well known enemy, but that also means he hasn't been totally overdone. I was initially doubtful of Tom Hardy in this role based on Inception, but then I came across this:

It's hard for me to even tell that is the same guy! I guess if he can pump up, he's got a shot at a convincing Bane.

My hope is that there is at least a short trailer ready for Comic-Con in July. I'd like to be convinced about the inclusion of Hathaway/Catwoman. I liked the first 2 Nolan Batman's a lot, so, you know, no pressure.

Two Big Movie Announcements

(both via io9.com)

First up, expect 2 more installments of your favorite, blue, catpeople of Avatar. James Cameron announces that sequels to be released in December 2014, and the 3rd part a year later. I expect much hyping over the next 4 years...

Also news today is the name of the next Batman installment from Christopher Nolan. And the winner is......... The Dark Knight Rises. Oh, and absolutely NO Riddler in this film. So there!

I'm loving that the interweb is already buzzing about the suggestive nature of the movie title, and if Catwoman (or other female lead) appears in this one, much mocking will ensue. And as io9 suggests, yes, please Mr. Nolan, feel free to cast Joseph Gordon-Levitt!

Open Note to Christopher Nolan on Batman 3

I love Batman, particularly his rogues gallery. I think he has some of the best villains of any of the super hero titles I used to (semi) regularly read. I gave up on the comics a while back because the story lines started feeling repetitive, but I really enjoyed the last two Christopher Nolan Batman movies. And I was equally excited for the third installment. Until now.

A post (albeit unconfirmed so far) from ComicBookMovie.com indicates that the Riddler will be the next primary villain in the franchise. And that several Arkham Asylum characters will also appear (Penguin, Mr Freeze). And maybe Batgirl and Robin. Oh, and let's ALSO throw in an appearance or reference to Lex Luthor/Metropolis.

I have two big issues with these "supposed to be's" and if I could get Nolan's ear -- or any of the screenwriters for that matter -- here's what I'd want to talk about.

1) Haven't we already seen the Riddler as a primary villain back in Joel Schumacher's "Batman Forever"? Regardless of how you feel about Jim Carrey as the Riddler, it happened, we've been there and done that. And honestly, it was kind of passe even back in 1995. (And, of course, we've already seen both Penguin, played by the amazing Danny DeVito, and Mr. Freeze, played by Ah-nuld.) With the amazing rogues gallery available in the Batman universe, is there really no one else? I think I'd rather see a re-make of Poison Ivy as an eco-terrorist.

2) Next, what is the goal of trying to cram so many characters and plot points all into one movie? I think this is one of the (many) big mistakes of the later Batman movies from the late 90's. Riddler, Two Face, and the origin of Robin all gets shoved into the 3rd movie. And then Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Batgirl, and continued character development of Robin are all crowbarred into another 2-hour story in the 4th installment. And Bane, a great comic book villain, was treated as a second-class sidekick, totally wasted in the 4th movie. It's just too much.

I'm worried Nolan will go down the road (or be forced to) of cramming more characters and plot lines into the movie to create more marketing opportunities (toys) and establish more franchises or spin-offs (rumor has it Nolan may helm the next Superman movie).

Because that's what every good STORY needs is marketing and franchise demands. Sigh. Seriously, you might consider listening to the fans, at least a little. I've already read 6-8 other great ideas in response to these articles that trump the Riddler.

Let's hope I am wrong, and we get a nice, clean story for the 3rd movie.


(image courtesy of ComicBookMovie.com)